Chinese-made Pharmaceuticals Pose Risks

http://www.economyincrisis.net/content/chinese-made-pharmaceuticals-pose-risks

Each day, tens of millions of Americans take medication to treat ailments and keep them healthy, but with more and more active pharmaceutical ingredients coming from China, some medicines could be having the opposite effect.

“With little realistic oversight, and more importantly, little ethos of business integrity in China, a major tragedy in the U.S. from a Chinese export is likely in the near future,” Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute writes.
In fact, Chinese authorities inspect each production facility once about every 13 years, according to Bate.

The lack of oversight poses a major problem for Americans that are required to take medicine. U.S. officials do not have the proper number of inspectors or the time to inspect and test all drugs entering the U.S. market. Oftentimes, they must take the word of suppliers that the drugs have been properly tested.

That may have been the case when Chinese imports of the blood thinner Heparin ended up killing 153 Americans because it was tainted.
In 2000, just $33 million in drug products came from China. A decade later, the number rose to $1.74 billion.

More at the link --

Even the OTC stuff just says "Distributed by ---"

What the hell can we do?

perhaps it'll have its own effect

the GERD anti-heartburn meds that i buy OTC from costco are made in india.

I'd trust drugs from India far more than ones from China, at this point.

The problem with Indian drugs that are found to be inferior is that too little of the active ingredient has been found in them, especially true of things like antibiotics. The fly by night companies that produce the inferior stuff distribute them mostly in India and Africa.

{From NYT article in 2008, link below}

China now produces about two-thirds of all aspirin and is poised to become the world’s sole global supplier in the not-too-distant future. But are the Chinese factories safe? Who knows? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency and other competent government regulators rarely, if ever, inspect them. (By contrast, Rhodia’s plant was last inspected by the F.D.A. in July and is routinely inspected by one country or another.) Companies that import Chinese pharmaceutical ingredients, including aspirin, are required to test the supplies before using them, and some send private inspectors to China to ensure that suppliers use adequate controls. No pharmaceutical maker wants its name to become synonymous with disaster, and the vast majority of drugs that are consumed in the United States are safe. But some industry executives told me that price sensitivity in the generics industry makes it more difficult to fully vet their low-cost suppliers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/magazine/02fda-t.html?_r=1